The history of mobile phones and text support nudges for students at UW Tacoma seems long to tech innovators, but in terms of the culture of a college campus, it's been the blink of an eye. We recently read that millenials check their phones 40-75 times a day, and they attempt to respond to texts immediately. They're also infamous for not checking email. UW Tacoma recognized this early on, based on the research of Carmean and Mizzi, and began searching for ways to reach out via the millenial's omnipresent cellphone.
We found a solution for mobile support nudges via a partnership with Persistence Plus, a higher education mobile texting platform that keeps students on track by sending different populations of students nudges related to their academics, time and stress management, and information on campus resources for success.
Historically, our first project with P+ was nudging students to successful completion in newly ONLINE math courses. These online courses were a concern, much desired in the online format for working adults, but - as is always the case with the online format - worrisome for the administration if students would be more at risk not to complete. With twice-weekly nudges, P+ students stayed on task, completing with equivalent grades as the face-to-face courses and with higher grades and completion rates than students who opted out of text message support.
In 2013-14, we also began nudging first year (freshmen) students, with texts regarding resources, the campus, getting connected, studying ...and having fun. We continue to see significant increases in retention for students that opt-in for support over those that do not.
Life doesn't get easier for UW Tacoma students after the first year. After summer break, we have traditionally lost 25-30% of our first years and 10-15% of our sophomores. A body at rest wants to stay at rest. It needs a nudge to get back in motion.
In the Fall, we now nudge non-registered "rising sophomores" on reasons to come in and register. Last summer, days before Fall term, we brought 36% of these eligible/not registered students back to campus after 1-4 nudges. This summer, we'll also nudge the 10-15% we usually lose after sophomore year.
But let's not forget that millenials aren't even the majority of UW Tacoma students. Working, 30+ years of age, parents, and stressed is "the new traditional" and they need help too. UW Tacoma is now beginning an initiative for mobile support for near-completers, helping them stay on track and take all the steps needed to step over the finish line. We'll keep you posted.
If you're interested in knowing more about UW Tacoma's nudge initiative, we've done our best to record our work in the scholarly and trade literature. Here's all the most popular that Google can find. You'll find even more at Google Scholar if you want to dive deep into the data.
Colleen
PS:Drink plenty of water and eat a healthy breakfast to be of optimum energy during the day (nudge).
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